Windows Phone 7 and Kinect learn to play ball together (video)

Now here’s a cool demonstration of some possible integration between Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 and its Kinect motion gaming controller: using a phone to throw balls at gamers playing the Rally Ball game on the Xbox 360.

Microsoft showed off the demo at the Mobile World Congress event today in Barcelona. It doesn’t appear as if the integration will ever make its way to consumers, but it’s a sign of the sort of integration possible between Microsoft’s devices.

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Windows Phone 7 devices also feature integration with Xbox Live, Microsoft’s online gaming service. At the moment, that integration amounts to being able to view your friends’ activity, achievements, and play some arcade games. But as this demo shows, Microsoft could eventually use its phones as a way to interact with console games in real time.

Microsoft likely won’t spend too much time making this sort of thing a reality until Windows Phone 7 devices start selling better. The company announced last month that it has shipped 2 million WP7 devices in 2011, but that number doesn’t tell us how many consumers actually bought them.

The integration reminds me of the way Nintendo’s Gamecube could connect to the Game Boy Advance for games like Final Fantasy Chronicles. That game allowed you to use the Game Boy Advance as a controller, but it also took advantage of its portable screen to manage items without interrupting gameplay on the television. Microsoft is definitely far off from that sort of integration, but it certainly would be cool to see.